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A consortium of three banks announced Wednesday that it is contesting in advance the results of Friday's scheduled auction and tender of 78 percent of the Yukos oil company, while the State Property Committee said its lawyers were ready for the challenge.
The consortium, made up of Inkombank, Bank Rossiisky Kredit and Alfa-Bank, said they plan to ask a court to declare the auction results illegal, Interfax reported Wednesday.
A 45 percent stake in Yukos will be auctioned Friday as part of the government's loans-for-shares scheme, while another 33 percent of the oil giant, Russia's second largest, will simultaneously be sold off for cash.
"If they, even before the confirming of the results of the Yukos auction, are ready to take it to court -- this suggests what their goals are," said State Property Committee spokesman Igor Plotnikov.
A spokesman for Bank Menatep, the state-designated organizer of the Yukos auction which is also a contestant for Yukos, said Wednesday that an application to participate in the auction submitted by the Babayevskoye joint stock company on behalf of the three banks had been "registered" but not "accepted" Tuesday, Reuters reported Wednesday.
The Bank Menatep spokesman said that the company's application was turned down for several reasons, including the fact that the company had deposited part of the required $350 million advance payment in the form of Treasury bills.
The government's commission in charge of carrying out loans-for-shares auctions also rejected Babayevskoye's application, Interfax reported Wednesday.
Russian Central Bank Chairman Sergei Dubinin sent a letter Tuesday to Alfred Kokh, acting head of the State Property Committee, asking him to "examine the possibility of using government securities as an instrument for depositing funds for the fulfilling the terms of investment competitions," Commersant Daily reported Wednesday.
A Central Bank spokesman called the letter a "suggestion," not an "instruction," Reuters reported Wednesday.
For his part, Economics Minister Yevgeny Yasin said that "there was no sense for the government to accept short-term state treasury bills as deposits, if it needs money," Reuters reported.
Commersant cited an unnamed source from the three-bank consortium as saying that "the story with the Yukos shares is not over."
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